News of the day from across the globe, April 22

Chronicle News Services

Published
4:58 pm PDT, Thursday, April 21, 2016

1Mass graves: Six bodies have been identified so far from two mass graves unearthed this week in the western city of Ramadi, nearly four months after Iraqi forces routed Islamic State militants from the Anbar provincial capital, officials said Thursday. Arrested Islamic State militants had led authorities on Tuesday to the mass graves inside the city’s soccer stadium, believed to contain up to 40 bodies. Some of the victims were blindfolded and had their hands tied, Iraqi officials had said earlier.

2Bus bombing: Israeli police on Thursday confirmed that a 19-year-old Palestinian man carried out a bus bombing in Jerusalem this week, as the Islamic militant group Hamas praised the man as a “martyr” for the attack. Police identified the attacker as Abdel Hameed Abu Srour, a resident of the West Bank city of Beit Jala. Police said he was critically wounded in the bombing and died Wednesday in an Israeli hospital. About 20 people were injured in the bombing, some seriously, including a teenage girl who suffered severe burns. A hospital spokeswoman confirmed Wednesday one man later died, but did not name him.

3Get armed: Former Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha on Thursday called on citizens to arm themselves, saying the government is failing to confront crime. Speaking at the weekly parliamentary session, Berisha accused the government of links to crime gangs and said there is no public order or security. Berisha also called for a new law to allow weapons possession. Gun ownership is currently illegal in Albania and calls to break the law could result in a 10-year jail sentence. Berisha stepped down as prime minister in 2013 after his center-right Democratic Party was defeated in parliamentary elections.

4Urban growth: China is increasingly becoming a nation of town and city dwellers, with more than 55 percent now living in urban areas, the government said Thursday. China’s transformation to a predominantly urban society is key to realizing the government’s goals of boosting consumption and raising living standards amid slowing economic growth. China’s vast countryside has lagged far behind urban areas in income growth, public services and job creation, prompting millions of Chinese to move to the cities.

5Pot limit: President Enrique Peña Nieto said Thursday that he will ask Mexico’s Congress to raise the limit on decriminalized marijuana for personal use to 28 grams, or about 1 ounce. Only possession of 5 grams, or less than a fifth of an ounce, is now exempt from prosecution. “This means that consumption would no longer be criminalized,” Peña Nieto said. Possession of larger amounts would still be punishable under drug trafficking laws. Peña Nieto’s proposal also would allow the use and importation of cannabis-based medications and it would free people who are on trial or serving time for possession of up to an ounce of marijuana.

6 Bike lane collapse: A new elevated bike path that was heralded as a top legacy project of the Rio de Janeiro Olympics collapsed Thursday, killing at least two people. The accident was the latest in a series of problems besetting preparations for the Aug. 5-21 Games, which include worries about an outbreak of the Zika virus, political turmoil that threatens to topple President Dilma Rousseff, underwhelming ticket sales and budget cuts amid Brazil’s worst recession in decades.